The British government has signalled its willingness for a major dispute with the European Union to protect stability in Northern Ireland and the 1998 peace deal.
In possibly the most important post-Brexit speech to date, Lord David Frost explicitly declared that the British government would use the Article 16 clause to suspend the Northern Ireland protocol to protect peace and prosperity in the province.
In a specially arranged address, the Cabinet Office minister said London would put the Good Friday Agreement before the trade arrangement that enabled Brexit. That means Britain would be ruthless in its fight to overturn what it considers unfair elements of the deal agreed to with the European Union in 2019.
London would not tolerate the European Court of Justice as the place to decide trade disputes over the treaty, he said.
Lord Frost’s central argument was that the protocol had to be reformed to avoid potential civil unrest from the unravelling of the Good Friday Agreement that brought the Troubles in Northern Ireland to an end.
“We have a real opportunity to put in place a new arrangement to defuse the political crisis that is brewing, both in Northern Ireland and between us,” he said in the speech, given in Lisbon, Portugal.
The Northern Ireland protocol was introduced to avoid a hard border with customs controls between Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic. However, it essentially moved the border to the Irish Sea inhibiting imports from mainland Britain of many goods, including sausages.
Lord Frost said this invisible frontier was disrupting ordinary people’s lives, damaging businesses and “causing serious turbulence”.
The fundamental difficulty was that the UK had to “run a full-scale external boundary of the EU through the centre of our country, to apply EU law without consent in one part of it”, he said.
Goods should be allowed to circulate freely between Northern Ireland and the rest of Britain, “something that every other country in the world takes for granted”, he said.
Northern Ireland's unionist community views the protocol as a severe challenge to its unity with the rest of the UK and the matter has sparked some outbreaks of violence.
“We now face a very serious situation, it has completely lost consent in one community in Northern Ireland,” Lord Frost said, referring to the unionists. “It is not doing the thing it was set up to do, to protect the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, in fact it is doing the opposite. It has to change.”
He suggested that the protocol had been used malignly by the EU to reverse the Brexit vote or “keep us closely aligned with the EU” and that it was clearly “a moment of EU overreach”.
“The Northern Ireland protocol is the biggest source of mistrust between us and for all kinds of reasons, we need to fix this problem.”
The EU also took a heavy broadside from Lord Frost on its actions over the last year in which, he said, it arbitrarily banned the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, imposed a “needless ban” on fish imports and France threatened to cut energy supplies. Britain had then faced “generalised accusations that we can't be trusted”, he said.
He argued that this undermined the 2016 Brexit vote itself, in which 52 per cent of British voters opted to leave the EU.
“To suggest there is something wrong in people deciding things for themselves is somewhat disreputable, maybe even disrespectful to the British people in our democracy,” Lord Frost said.
For the EU to say that the protocol, which was “drawn up in such haste” could not be improved upon, would be a “historical misjudgement”.
“It is our responsibility to safeguard peace and response and prosperity in Northern Ireland. That may include using Article 16 if necessary,” he said.
He suggested that an improved deal would bring about “a new age of co-operation in which the word 'protocol' never appears”.
The speech represents a serious challenge to the EU leadership and to its unity, with some countries eager for the protocol issue to be resolved while others, such as France, might veto any compromise.
The coming weeks of negotiation could be crucial in setting the terms for the Anglo-EU relationship for years to come.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
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FFP EXPLAINED
What is Financial Fair Play?
Introduced in 2011 by Uefa, European football’s governing body, it demands that clubs live within their means. Chiefly, spend within their income and not make substantial losses.
What the rules dictate?
The second phase of its implementation limits losses to €30 million (Dh136m) over three seasons. Extra expenditure is permitted for investment in sustainable areas (youth academies, stadium development, etc). Money provided by owners is not viewed as income. Revenue from “related parties” to those owners is assessed by Uefa's “financial control body” to be sure it is a fair value, or in line with market prices.
What are the penalties?
There are a number of punishments, including fines, a loss of prize money or having to reduce squad size for European competition – as happened to PSG in 2014. There is even the threat of a competition ban, which could in theory lead to PSG’s suspension from the Uefa Champions League.
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Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week
The specs: 2018 Mercedes-AMG C63 S Cabriolet
Price, base: Dh429,090
Engine 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8
Transmission Seven-speed automatic
Power 510hp @ 5,500rpm
Torque 700Nm @ 1,750rpm
Fuel economy, combined 9.2L / 100km
MATCH INFO
Inter Milan 1 (Martinez 18' pen)
Juventus 2 (Dybala 4', Higuain 80')
More on Quran memorisation:
Result
UAE (S. Tagliabue 90 1') 1-2 Uzbekistan (Shokhruz Norkhonov 48', 86')
'Gehraiyaan'
Director:Shakun Batra
Stars:Deepika Padukone, Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ananya Panday, Dhairya Karwa
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Grubtech
Founders: Mohamed Al Fayed and Mohammed Hammedi
Launched: October 2019
Employees: 50
Financing stage: Seed round (raised $2 million)
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
57%20Seconds
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How to wear a kandura
Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
- Always ask for the dress code if you don’t know
- Wear a white kandura, white ghutra / shemagh (headwear) and black shoes for work
- Wear 100 per cent cotton under the kandura as most fabrics are polyester
Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
- Buy a kandura only based on how it feels; ask questions about the fabric and understand what you are buying
The specs
Engine: 8.0-litre, quad-turbo 16-cylinder
Transmission: 7-speed auto
0-100kmh 2.3 seconds
0-200kmh 5.5 seconds
0-300kmh 11.6 seconds
Power: 1500hp
Torque: 1600Nm
Price: Dh13,400,000
On sale: now
The biog
Name: Abeer Al Shahi
Emirate: Sharjah – Khor Fakkan
Education: Master’s degree in special education, preparing for a PhD in philosophy.
Favourite activities: Bungee jumping
Favourite quote: “My people and I will not settle for anything less than first place” – Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid.
The specs
- Engine: 3.9-litre twin-turbo V8
- Power: 640hp
- Torque: 760nm
- On sale: 2026
- Price: Not announced yet
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
The specs
Engine: 3.8-litre twin-turbo flat-six
Power: 650hp at 6,750rpm
Torque: 800Nm from 2,500-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Fuel consumption: 11.12L/100km
Price: From Dh796,600
On sale: now
Tips from the expert
Dobromir Radichkov, chief data officer at dubizzle and Bayut, offers a few tips for UAE residents looking to earn some cash from pre-loved items.
- Sellers should focus on providing high-quality used goods at attractive prices to buyers.
- It’s important to use clear and appealing photos, with catchy titles and detailed descriptions to capture the attention of prospective buyers.
- Try to advertise a realistic price to attract buyers looking for good deals, especially in the current environment where consumers are significantly more price-sensitive.
- Be creative and look around your home for valuable items that you no longer need but might be useful to others.
The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
What are the main cyber security threats?
Cyber crime - This includes fraud, impersonation, scams and deepfake technology, tactics that are increasingly targeting infrastructure and exploiting human vulnerabilities.
Cyber terrorism - Social media platforms are used to spread radical ideologies, misinformation and disinformation, often with the aim of disrupting critical infrastructure such as power grids.
Cyber warfare - Shaped by geopolitical tension, hostile actors seek to infiltrate and compromise national infrastructure, using one country’s systems as a springboard to launch attacks on others.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
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United States
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China
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UAE
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Japan
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Norway
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Canada
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Singapore
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Australia
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Saudi Arabia
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South Korea
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